Sunday, November 22, 2009

Cruising to the End of November

Yesterday; Saturday, November 21, 2009 Steve, Gary and I took the 28 foot pontoon boat out for one last cruise on Eagle Lake near Big Lake.

It was nice and sunny, although a little windy by the end of the day. Gary and Steve both got skunked and didn't catch a thing.

I, on the other hand (who does not fish), brought my portable propane oven and was cooking nonstop.

Cinnamon rolls, pizza poppers, a whole rice and enchilada family meal, a blueberry pie and chocolate chip cookies.
All hot and tasty while we puttered about, the only boat on the lake.

We never made it to the bratwurst.

It was great. Check out the pictures at my facebook account here.

On another note, I have begun correspondence with the organizers of Stillwater's "Lumberjack Days" to see if I can set up and operate our lumbermill at next years celebration.

I hope we can. Stillwater is the birthplace of Minnesota and was born by a sawmill.

However these days the folks of the area seem to like the "theater" of the lumberjack but not so much the actual enterprise of logging and timber cutting.

I would not be surprised if I were to be informed that cutting logs into boards on a lumbermill does not "fit" with their "vision" for the future of lumberjack days in Stillwater.

Still I think it is worth doing and they may be all for it, who knows?

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Mid November

It has been raining overnight, not heavy, light and off and on. It is Saturday morning November 14, 2009 in Forest Lake Minnesota.

I have been working in Joe Haines Tree and Horse world in Stillwater. I have brought the band saw from Wisconsin to his property there.

This makes me very happy. Buck my brother lives there just across the Mississippi a piece. He is doing things too, I checked out the dry kiln he has put together to the specifications drawn by John Wilkinson, Our dad.

Dads Dry Kiln my be revolutionary to those interested in drying wood.

Buck (Blake), has got a neat set up there in Gainsville Wisconsin. Joe, my boss let me use the one ton to haul the lumbermill to Stillwater.

Today it is 7am and I thought I'd note this before helping Steve haul metal chips to the recyclers. Yesterday we wrestled down and chunk-hauled a black walnut tree.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

That's Not The Wells Fargo Wagon You See on the Horizon.

Well, we are into November and the political baggage trains are beginning to sort out into common flagged assemblies. And they have begun their dusty and clattering treks about the State.

On the crazy meandering paths that leave no home or hamlet un-touched, these overloaded wagon trains of campaigns; like gypsies of old, rattle into sight, coming in over the horizon cloaked in a haze of dust, movement, noise and flies.

By the end of the month, these nomads will have, more or less, concentrated into two long lumbering wagon trains, each full of pack animals, rough handlers, noisy hangers-on and lots of "bummers" walking with the noisy rabble.

They'll eventually reach the Capitol in Saint Paul, however each individual colorful and noisy wagon may be in a different train by the time it gets there. And many a sad and worn out wagon doesn't complete the arduous and inefficient slog. The countryside is littered with old rotting corps' of once noisy and colorful sturdy platform-wagons.

Until they return to the dust from which they came, the gaudily painted wood and fabric decays alongside the main roads, and back roads. These derelicts always bring forth the same stories when passed by the trains. It reminds the observer of a line of elephants passing the grave of a now gone but once strong companion, each trumpeting the same sad note as they pass.

The Minnesota Legislative Session is to Convene 12 noon, Thursday, February 4, 2010.

Minnesota used to meet every other year, and I think it still could and should, however that isn't the way we do it now.

Minnesota budgets on a bi-annual basis. This years session is to deal with the "bonding Bill". Coupled with it also being an election year, there is a great deal of incentive for them to get to "business" and leave fast.

They have campaigns to tend to....
...and...
The wild card on everyone's mind is that the Governor of Minnesota has said he will not be seeking re-election. The throne is open for occupancy in November 2010, one year from now.

However, the clamoring mobs constantly hovering around the circus always want more. And they often condense into one. Like a school of herring they can mesmerize with their flashing colorful mosaic show. Unlike herring they can shout, and they do, in large placard waiving throngs.

Do they, the elected, safely evacuate the coral confines of the Capitol buildings to hunt for their supper, or will they be mesmerized and baffled into the endless twists and turns to be found in the labyrinth of Saint Paul?